About vlatkaherzberg

Vlatka is author of Magik the Corgi Comics: Tale to Tail, Grandmother Moon & Other Mother Stories, Aesop’s Fables eBook adaptations: The Brother and the Sister, The Buffoon and the Countryman, and The Bear and the Two Travelers, The Owl and the Birds, and the comic book David, Software Engineer, and Ancient Stories by the Keeper of the Tales told in classrooms.
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Saturday, March 24th students and their families will participate in March For Our Lives to demand safety and an end to gun violence and mass shootings in schools. It is a demonstration created and organized by #NeverAgain, a group of students who survived the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Students are marching across the country and at the Capitol to make sure their voices are heard. See the link below to find a March For Our Lives location near you.

As an advocate for children’s and youth’s voices being expressed and heard I wanted to remind us all to participate in some way. This event also made me think of the courage of Sandy Hook Mom, Scarlett Lewis. I watched a video by Scarlett Lewis who lost her son Jesse in the Sandy Hook School shootings. She started the “Choose Love” social emotional learning program to help prevent more tragedies like this one.

This from the Jesse Lewis Choose Love website: “The Choose Love Enrichment Program™ is a free, downloadable, pre-K through 12th grade, evidence-based social and emotional (SEL) classroom program teaching children how to choose love in any circumstance. The program focuses on four important character values – Courage, Gratitude, Forgiveness and Compassion in Action – which cultivates optimism, resilience and personal responsibility.” Check the link below. There are many resources at her website, including a program for Choose Love at Home. The Choose Love program also uses a tapping technique for emotional healing and change. You can learn about the Tapping Solution at the website link, also below.

After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings in Broward County, Florida, many people are participating in the recovery and healing process. Internationally known trauma expert, Dr. Lori Leyden and her Trauma Healing and Resiliency Team from Sandy Hook, CT headed to Parkland, FL at the beginning of March and offered rapid relief trauma healing sessions for those affected by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting tragedy. They also provided training for professionals and community leaders in charge of the recovery effort. See the link below for more information about Dr. Lori Leyden’s work.

Participating in the March for Our Lives is one way to have voice around gun violence in schools. Whether you and your family or students can or can’t attend the March for Our Lives, you can participate in other ways. Here’s an idea.

March for Our Lives Challenge: Talk about the March for Our Lives with your children or students and write a story together, or individually that expresses your and their feelings around gun violence in schools. You can do this in short story format or in comic panels.

One way to help children improve their writing is to write in different genres. I learned to write short stories in Junior High and High School. I learned how to write radio and television scripts as well as commercials in a technical school. I continued to learn how to write visually, including comics through taking courses, reading and writing.

When I started teaching Creative Writing as an artist in the classrooms in Canada, I used short story, and art through the creation of Story Cloths, stories drawn onto cloth in panels. One could argue that was the creation of my earliest comic panels.

It wasn’t until last year that I began teaching children how to write a play from their short story, or how to turn their comic into a play. Creating play and comic script templates for them really helped them have structure, but mostly it was through reading scripts and stories and then writing their own with my direction and feedback that helped them to learn how to write from one genre to another. Sharing their stories with their peers encouraged them to write more stories, whether it was to improve upon their writing because of the feedback they were getting, or because they and their friends were enjoying reading what they wrote so much.

Genre to genre writing is a process of self discovery for the writer, young or old. You learn about your story, about your characters. Writing in a different genres can give you a fresh perspective on your story. It can create momentum for the story to be completed, and it can be a lot of fun.

Three of my students collaborated on a series of stories around a character they invented called Epic Man. The character was funny and well-developed. They had an easier time drawing out the story in comic panels. I had to encourage them to transcribe the story into a play, and helped them with the process. They created a Reader’s Theater script out of it, and have continued to write sequels in their spare time.

Genre to Genre Story Challenge:

Whatever genre you normally write in, say short story, try a different genre. Perhaps writing a theater play script would be easy. Start with a short story and script it out in a play. There are plenty of examples of folktales turned into Reader’s Theater Plays. Here’s a link for ideas: http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE.html. Lastly, take your theater script and draw four comic panels complete with word bubbles. Here is a link for free comic panel templates: https://www.printablepaper.net/category/comics.

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Sharing our stories in families, in classrooms, in our community can empower us and help us to deal with personal and national or global challenges. After the recent Santa Barbara Fires and Montecito Mudslides, I attended a workshop where we shared our experiences. In the process of listening to others express their feelings in a safe, supportive environment, I allowed myself to grieve and cry. Following the expression was a space for integration and allowing new possibilities to open. In a span of a few hours a transformation occurred, and I felt the healing power of sharing stories with each other.

I have been thinking about how we can engage the stories that need to be both expressed and heard in our own personal lives and in our communities. Parents having discussions with their children, workshops in your community, teachers discussing current issues of concern in classrooms are all possible ways to make start the dialogue.

I also observe that when I am out and about running errands or doing business that I often have an opportunity to speak with someone and listen more deeply to what they are saying. What is going on in their lives right now? What is impacting them? Is it rules that aren’t working? Is it the concern of a loved one’s or pets health? Is it the loss of their home, or the fear of it? Is it the Florida school shooting? Maybe the story they share is full of hope and expectation instead. Maybe the story is an opportunity to be more understanding with someone else’s perspective.

How can we be more attentive to our own stories, and the stories of others? Sometimes it only takes a few minutes of listening, and there can be a shift in the person telling the story. Maybe they are more lighter, optimistic, or hopeful. Maybe they are open to another perspective or possibility they didn’t consider. I wonder.

Sharing Story Challenge: Be aware of the stories that need to be expressed and heard today. Challenge yourself to be patient, and listen more deeply. That act of listening and being heard can be a gift you give yourself and another today.

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I admit I like garage sales. The treasures I find aren’t always things, but sometimes people. I met a woman whose fifth grade daughter is in a charter school. Along with a nurturing curriculum, the program includes a lot of parent participation. Sharing our parenting stories brought a commonality to the surface: “How do you parent, without losing yourself?” It’s not a simple answer, and it varies from individual to individual.

In the moment, I found myself reflecting on my over twenty years of parenting and saying, “If I could talk to my past self now, I would tell her to weave her passion into her parenting.” I shared how all these years later, I am weaving my writing into the teaching I do. Parenting and teaching have so much in common, including going beyond the expected duties and obligations. I put a lot of myself into my teaching, and that includes my extra time. One important way that I don’t lose myself is that I weave my writing into my teaching. I often write short stories and plays for the curriculum I am teaching. This sometimes includes addressing classroom dynamics in the form of social stories. In this way I have writing time while compiling stories for my next book or project. It’s a tapestry of mattering. The children matter, and so do I.

It makes me think of some questions to ask ourselves: What nurtures, nourishes and replenishes me? What matters to me? What makes me feel happy, and joyful? What makes me feel alive? What inspires me? What inspires my creativity? How can I include this in my busy life so that it can inspire the children I work with? How can I share more of who I am with the children in my life?

I hope this plants some seeds, and that you weave your own tapestry of parenting and teaching without losing “yourself”.

I learn as much as I teach when teaching creative writing to my students. A few weeks ago, a first grader wanted my help writing a play. He wanted it to be about a teacher who took a cheap job because she was poor. I noticed at the time that he was putting a lot of emphasis on the value of expensive cars and on money. I took the opportunity to discuss the issue with my mentor. She suggested I write a play and begin a dialogue about what wealth means.

It made me question what it is we teach children about money and wealth. What is wealth? Does being wealthy mean you have a lot of money? Or does being wealthy also mean that your life is rich and full and meaningful in many arenas of living? The dictionary meaning of wealth is “an abundance of valuable possessions or money.” But is that really the true meaning of wealth? The dictionary meaning also includes: “plentiful supplies of a particular resource.” Could that resource be fun, happiness, joy, passion, or inspiration? Maybe a person is wealthy because of the depth of intimacy, love and caring in their lives. Maybe a person is wealthy because they feel joy from being, giving and receiving. Maybe a person is wealthy if they bring meaning and hope to their own life and the lives of others.

I wonder.

A week or so later, I ended up having another conversation with the same student. We talked about what else wealth could mean. The following week he told me that he decided to write a different play.

What are your concepts of wealth? What are the concepts of wealth the children in your life hold? Could they be expanded?

The benefits of social story may not always have the results that we think it should have or show up in the form we think it will take. What I do know with certainty is that social story works. I trust the process.

Yesterday, I noticed that the pile of blank paper that I had just brought into our open classroom the day before, (I bring my own supplies) was completely gone. I couldn’t believe it. I expressed my dismay out loud. Later in the day, two first graders came up to me while whispering to each other, and then one of them said, “We used up the paper to trace our characters.” (They used it to make stick puppets, and for coloring.) “We will bring paper from home to give you.”

I was moved by their honesty and caring, and the desire to take positive action. They saw the impact their actions had and they wanted to do something to change that. I responded in surprise and thanked them for their honesty and their caring and let them know how much I appreciated their thoughtfulness, which made them feel good about themselves.

I have also noticed that there is more interest in the social story books we have in the classroom, and that generally everyone is more conscious of putting things back where they found them.

Although the missing story “dream” stone has not yet returned, writing and reading social stories together, and then talking about choices and the impact we have with the choices we make has had immensely positive impact. I am amazed and grateful!

There are many helpful tips on the internet on “how to write social stories.” Most of the guidelines focus on stories that are meant to help children learn social cues and understand social situations.

I have been writing my own form of social stories (or what are called pedagogical stories in Waldorf Schools) for nearly 20 years now. I have written stories about many topics including bullying, teasing, racism, kindness, and recently, stealing. Writing and sharing these social stories with children has shown me that it is really important that the story is engaging.

When children are engrossed in a story, the lesson is more gently received. I might start writing with the theme in mind, like stealing. I think about the context of how it is playing out in the classroom or the household. I consider the children involved in the actual life situation, and I consider their interests and the dynamics of what is going on. I create a main character who has a similar challenge to one that the children in my life are facing, and I create a resolution. The setting I use is usually a village or a world I create that will engage the children’s imagination.

I ask questions about my main character like who are they? How old are they? What are their likes and dislikes? What are their dreams and wishes? What do they hate? What are they afraid of? Who are their friends? Who are their enemies? I ask other questions to, including what really matters to my main character? What do they want? What is their problem or challenge? Why? And how do they resolve it?

As I answer these questions, the story starts to unfold. Often, a magical alchemy happens where the story flows from beginning to end as though it has a life of its own. And it does!

Once the story is written, I share it with my students. We discuss what happened in the story and why. We talk about the subject in context of their lives and in context of the character’s lives. Usually, new awareness, and understanding surfaces.

This is one way I create and work with social stories that address emotional challenges in everyday living with children. When writing your own social stories for the children you care about, I suggest that you do a google search: “How to Write Social Stories,” or, “Social Story Writing Tips.” Here is a link that might be helpful: http://challengingbehavior.fmhi.usf.edu/explore/pbs_docs/social_story_tips.pdf

Wise mentors I know have used life situations as teaching moments. Recently, I brought a “dream” stone, a large tumbled quartz stone with yellowish iron veins and the word “dream” carved into it, to the after school where I work. My intention was to use it as a “story stone” encouraging the children to imagine and think about their “dreams” in context of story.

I set the stone aside on the pink drawers that contain all of the writing journals. I was aware of placing it there as one class left, and the other arrived. We had a lot of activities reading and writing plays, that I forgot about the stone. At the end of the class, as I was putting things away, I noticed that the stone was gone. I searched high and low, moving furniture, looking under tables, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I wondered if it was lost or if it had been taken without permission.

Later in the evening, I found myself still thinking about the missing “dream” stone, and wondered how I could use this as a teaching moment. I have written social stories professionally for classrooms in Canada and here in the United States, but I haven’t really written my own social theater play yet, so I decided to do so last night. The story flowed, and 11 play pages later it was written. My intention is to read it to the classes that were present when the “dream” stone went missing. While we discuss the story, we can also discuss the concepts of taking things without permission, and the consequences of how people feel when something is taken.

There are a lot of good articles on the internet on “How to Write Social Stories”. My method is different. The focus is more on the story, and the lesson is woven subtly through it.

My experience has shown me that when writing social stories it is important not to be too preachy or even obvious. The lesson can be woven into the story, but a strong main character still needs to move the plot forward. If you know your audience well, you will know what sort of story will draw them in, so that they are so involved in the story they don’t realize it is teaching something until it is over. That’s when you can discuss both reading comprehension questions, and questions about the particular social topic.

Planning ahead before initiating a puppet play with first graders is important. I work as a tutoring teacher at a reputable Chinese after school. The curriculum I have created is a Creative Writing curriculum for grades 1-5, drawing on my experience of teaching storytelling and writing for children grades K-7 and my experience as a writer and author.

It’s important to have a structure with varied activity. I started our class with a reading of the play, “There’s a Dragon in the Library” by Dianne De Las Casas and Marita Gentry. As an introduction to the play, I read while the children used stick puppets to act out the story. This particular story has a lot of repetition so it is a good one for first graders to easily memorize some of the key phrases and repeat them together. The children enjoyed this very much.

Afterwards we discussed the play briefly, reinforcing familiarity and understanding of the story. This was followed with making their own Chinese dragon puppets. I tied in the dragon story and celebrating Chinese New Year with this project. I printed up copies of a Chinese dragon head ahead of time. The children colored and cut out their Chinese dragons, then glued them onto brown lunch bags to make their dragon puppets, or onto paper plates to make dragon masks. They proudly named their dragons and wrote their names on the back.

The children were so excited about their unique puppets and masks with their very individualized colors, that they asked if they could write dragon stories and make dragon plays. Of course, I said yes. It is wonderful when the actual writing and performing of puppet plays comes as a request from the children.

Some of the children already started writing their dragon stories in their writing journals. They are very excited. It is very rewarding to see them having so much fun while learning.

Last year I wrote a second version of a comic book for a STEM Career Series. Paris Gamble had given me the first script which included the story and the already developed characters, plus feedback from middle grade and high school kids on how to improve the story. The feedback suggested changes that would make the story more interesting and entertaining as well educational and something girls would enjoy reading too.

Writing comic books and novels is definitely a passion of mine especially when the comic books are used both creatively and educationally. This project was a joy to work on from the beginning to the end. The characters were already well developed and the storyline was too. My challenge was to incorporate the educational information in a way that engaged kids, so that while they were enjoying the story and connecting with these two main characters from middle school through to college they were also learning about the potential of becoming a software engineer.

This is the first in a series of STEM Career Comic Books by Paris Gamble. You can find out more at his Kickstarter Campaign site, where you will also be able to see a few of the comic book pages. Donations are reasonable, starting as low as $5.00, and home-schoolers and schools can also receive student and parent guides.

It’s a highly creative and engaging way to open up communication about STEM Career possibilities with your child.